Greece reopens the Corinth Canal after being closed since a landslide in January 2021

ATHENS, July 4. (DPA/EP) –

The Greek authorities have reopened this Monday the Corinth Canal, an artificial waterway that divides the Peloponnese peninsula with the mainland of Greece and which had been closed since January 2021 due to a landslide.

As explained by a government spokesman, the cleaning work has not yet been completed, but the opening of the waterway will be allowed during the three-month tourist season.

The channel, which is just over 6.3 kilometers long and less than 25 meters wide -which does not allow the traffic of large cargo ships-, was affected by a landslide in mid-January 2021.

Although it is true that it saves the detour of the Peloponnese peninsula, which would mean about 700 kilometers, the Corinth Canal today represents a great tourist attraction.

Completed at the end of the 19th century, in 1893, the canal shortens the route between the Saronic Gulf of the Adriatic Sea and the Corinthian Gulf of the Ionian Sea, although only for ships less than 17 meters wide.